Chiefs of Staff: The One About Staffing
by ghostlyandcoastly
Summary: 1st in Chiefs of Staff series; As far as timing goes, this is a post ep for Transition/Tomorrow; plot wise, I wanted to explore the who's who in the new administration and what exactly a day in the Santos administration is like.
1. Thievery and Professionalism

January 20th, 1:17PM

 _Donna_

"Thief!" Josh Lyman bellows as he walks into my new office. My assistant, Bridget, is trailing after him. I wave her off. I had been expecting this.

"Hello there, honey. How's your first day?" I ask him sweetly.

"Oh-ho-ho. Donnatella Moss, I'm not playing into your little game. I cannot be distracted. You're a thief!" Josh is loud but the twinkle of amusement in his eyes make my heart flutter.

"My day is going just wonderfully. I'm in this wonderful new office- it might be bigger than yours, you know." I watch as Josh takes a second to look around. He purses his lips for a second then I see the side of the his lips twitch. And then he's beaming at me.

"You've come along way, Miss Moss." He says this in an uncharacteristic Josh low volume. I get up from behind my desk and soon we're in one another's arms. I'd been waiting for this moment. We'd had a nice few seconds in bed this morning but it'd been broken by an NSC official knocking on the door with Josh's morning briefing. From there, Josh was in work mode. I couldn't blame him. It was an exciting day. Sure, we had the quiet moments together watching Santos be sworn in but that was rather public. We'd also walked into the White House together but that had been with Sam and Annabeth. And we'd split off without much recognition of each other. I was okay with that- we weren't boyfriend and girlfriend here. (Truthfully, the terms felt more juvenile than what we have but _significant other_ sounds too formal.) But now in this private moment, in my office, we could be those people. I knew we wouldn't do this in Josh's office- it felt too much like Leo's still. We wouldn't do this where other people were around- even if it was just Sam or Annabeth. But here, in my office, in the expanse of space between my conference table and my desk, we could stand and hold each other and that was more than enough.

"I'm proud of you. I don't know if that's condescending but I want you to know that I'm proud of you and I think you're going to be amazing." Josh whispers in my ear. I feel tears prick at my eyes and try to blink them away. Even now, Josh Lyman could not deal with me crying.

"Thank you. It means a lot." I whisper back to him once I've regained control over my voice. We pull apart and smile at each other. I didn't think we'd be these lovesick fools- yet, here we stand.

"Donna, Donna, Donnatella."

"Joshua, Josh, Josh, Josh." I peck him on the lips between the words for punctuation.

"No, no, no. I told you. I can't be distracted by your feminine wiles! You stole Margaret from me." He accuses me. I smile at him innocently.

"I merely presented her with an opportunity for upward mobility, Joshua. She's been assistant to the Chief of Staff for eight years. You can find someone else for your typing and filing." He groans, knowing he can't say much on this topic without digging a bit of a hole.

"But now I have to interview people for it! On top of all the other interviews I have to do!" He complains, flopping down into one of the conference table chairs.

"Poor thing." I tell him unsympathetically.

"What do ya have her doing anyways?"

"She's the Director of Special Projects and Policy for the First Lady." I inform him. "Ya know, you could ask that Jack kid from campaign advance."

"Who? Oh, that guy. He's… Huh. That's an okay idea…" I can see the wheels turning in his head.

"Where are you supposed to be right now?" I ask him.

"Trying to get rid of me?" He grins up at me.

"No, of course not. It's just that you're such an important and powerful man that I'm sure there's something you should be doing other than hounding your girlfriend about _her_ staff choices." I smile at him too so he knows I'm not actually bothered.

"I'm good til the President is back from the parade. Then Sam, Lou and I are meeting him in the Oval. We're gonna make all the senior staff and junior staff stuff official. And go over what our daily meetings entail." He informs me.

"They should be back within the next twenty five minutes… I was going to talk to you about senior staff and meetings actually."

"Yeah? Are we making this an actual chief of staffs meeting now?"

" _Chiefs_ of staff actually. And yes. I think that's a good idea."

"We could just make out."

"Joshua."

"Ah-kay."

I go back over to my desk and he follows, sitting in the chair next to my desk. I pull out my notebook.

"So ya know how Dr. Bartlet's staff functioned basically separately from the West Wing? Like she had a large staff." I began.

"Uh huh."

"And she had her own policy initiatives. I don't think Helen is Abbey Bartlet. But she's not Lady Bird Johnson either. I want to find a middle ground. I'm going to keep our staff here small and work more closely with your staff."

"Sounds good to me. I can keep an eye on you."

"Funny man. Now stop flirting, I'm being serious."

"Yes ma'am… What exactly does your staff do? How many people are you thinking?"

"I want my own speechwriters- Annabeth and I are hiring them. Annabeth will function as our press secretary, as you know, but she'll also technically be our director of communications. But I want to feed our communications and policy stuff through you guys mostly. Margaret will work as the event planner basically for any specific First Lady special projects and initiatives. Nancy is coming over here to be the First Lady's executive assistant. So Margaret will make the event happen, Annabeth will make sure Helen sounds and looks good, and Nancy will make sure she's there."

"And what are you doin'?"

"I'm working on policy stuff in collaboration with you all. Which is why I wanted to talk to you. The morning senior staff meeting, I want in."

"Oh, sure. Yeah. Bartlet kept it just to me, CJ, Toby and Sam and Leo but I think we're going to broaden it a bit. Basically have a rep from each department. So obviously Sam and I- then Lou for communications, whoever we end up getting for press secretary, Edie and Amy for political and legislative affairs. Ainsley for legal advice then Baker's chief of staff when he's confirmed and of course, you. Which my only problem with is you'll be distracting but I'll get over it."

"I thought I told you to stop flirting." The impact of this statement is lessened by the fact I can't stop smiling. He's so cute. And I love this job already.

"Well, we both need to repeat some stuff. I know I said it but I am proud of you. Not just because your office is bigger than mine. But I like watching your mind work with this. And I know you didn't want to work under me again but I'm really glad we're still going to be working together."

Oh, screw professionalism. I'm going to make out with my boyfriend in my new big office for the next ten minutes.


	2. Meeting in The Oval

_Later that day_

The joint chiefs just left the Oval, leaving Sam, Lou, and I with the President*. It is strange to look at the seal and not think _Bartlet_ but _Matt_ now. It's not a bad feeling though. In fact, it's an amazing one.

"Alright, what do we got?" It's no _what's next_ but I'll take it.

"I think we should send what we have for the cabinet tomorrow morning." Sam says.

"Do we wanna leak one today?" Santos asks.

"No, I want to do a press conference with you in the Rose Garden tomorrow morning, announcing the picks. Show you're a leader from day one, that you're not letting anything rest. Plus without a press secretary yet, this will distract them enough." Lou chimes in.

"How is that going?" Santos asks.

"Donald Morales is _good_ …" Sam says.

"But not great?" I add. Sam nods.

"We're not going to find another CJ Cregg." Lou replies.

"We've got _three_ deputy press secretaries- none of them can move up?" Santos asks.

"No. I mean I would have moved Donna up if she had signed on as deputy press secretary-"

"I knew it was my wife's fault." Matt jokes.

"Carol could do it but it'd make it to big a story- an assistant straight to press secretary looks too much like Bartlet nepotism which we're already toeing carefully." I add.

"And Lester is hungry for it and has the charisma but doesn't have the repore with the reporters. Yet."

"And the guy from the D triple C is a marshmallow and the press corp would eat him alive." Lou says.

"Why did we hire him again?" I ask.

"Favors. Good faith. Flies with honey." Sam says with a bit exasperation. Nate Hawkins worked with Barry Goodwin before working with the DCCC for the past year or so. He worked for the Russell campaign for a little while too. He's smart but lacks the gumption to be press secretary. We wouldn't have hired him as deputy but Barry insisted we needed to utilise some of the core democratic blood since Santos was a left field candidate with Lou, Sam, and I at the helm as left field operatives.

"Whatever, I think we're fine with having Lou do the normal press briefings and having Carol and Lester fill in the blanks with the press corp." I reply.

"Okay but I want one soon. I don't want to look like we're floundering staffing already." Santos says.

"Speaking of… there's a few positions that you'll want to make official by asking them tomorrow." Sam moves onto our next thing.

"Carol, Lester, and Nate just need to sign the paper. Same with Amy for Legislative Affairs and Edie for Political Affairs. Bram for Public Liaison, you technically have to ask still. Although he's been doing the job already." I cycle through my mental rolodex of staffing to do's. "You have to ask Otto formally to be a presidential speechwriter- he's probably going to freak out about it. I may have scared him that he's not getting it." I admit.

Santos and Lou both laugh while Sam shakes his head.

"There's the general speechwriting staff that you don't need to deal with but you know most of 'em. Ned Carlson is in there but I might farm him out to the VP's office one he's confirmed." Lou says.

"I do want to add another Presidential Speechwriter other than Otto. He's young." Sam says. Sam had run himself a little silly running up to the inauguration speech with looking over Otto's drafts. I have a feeling I'm going to need to pull him away from speechwriting quite often as its still inherent in his blood.

"Who are you thinking? I haven't seen anyone who really stood out." Lou asks.

"You don't know her. But I want to hire Will Bailey's little sister." Sam says to more to me than the others, since they don't know her.

"That's not a bad idea. But would she want it? Isn't she in LA now?" I ask.

"According to Will, she's back in D.C. and has decided to be done with television."

"This is a TV writer?" Santos asks skeptically.

"She's a comedy writer technically. But she helped Will out a lot when he was first hired here then worked with the First Lady a bunch." I fill in the blanks for Lou and Matt.

"What's her name?" Lou asks.

"Well, that's the funny part. Elsie Snuffin."

Lou looks blankly at Sam for a minute before laughing just a bit hysterically. I join in a bit too. So does Matt and Sam. It's a good moment of camaraderie and levity in the midst of the enormous weight of the jobs we have to do.

"So when are we doing the whole ceremonial, will you be my staff thing?" Santos asks.

"Donna had an idea. Don't look at me like that." Sam turns away but I can see his lip twitching. It's not my fault my girlfriend is brilliant. "She thinks we need to do the whole we're a family, team thing. She suggested a get together in the residence where you- and the first lady for her staff- will do the announcements and get it all out of the way at once."

"Sounds good." Santos agrees.

For the next thirty five minutes, we debate the leftover cabinet positions and make a plan for the next few days. Sam is in charge of finding the next Charlie, Lou with help from Carol will keep looking for a press secretary, and I've got to meet with the maybes for cabinet positions. Santos has to focus on Kazakhstan and adjusting to his new whirlwind.

The President is still confident about having Swaine for Secretary of Defense and we've all reached a consensus that Vinnick is the right choice for State. Sam proposes Karen Kroft for Secretary of Interior since we kind of screwed her as the Bartlet Administration. Lou thinks we'd have to give another republican for Secretary of Agriculture which I don't like but agree that it'd be a tough fight without doing so. They agree with me that Tom Landis who I once screwed on the Chesapeake Bay cleanup would be our first choice if we can swing it on the hill. Lou and I go to bat about HUD Secretary. Santos ends up siding with me and wanting to go with Jeff Breckenridge. For Veterans Affairs and Energy, we don't make much headroom but we agree we'll have to go moderate since we have heavy hitters for education and labor secretaries. Lou is going to send Bram and Edie to meetings with some of the DNC players to see who they want for those. Sam brought up Tony Marino for Labor Secretary and Santos wanted to bring Leo's sister, Josephine, on board for Secretary of Education. I know Leo would be caution us against it but there's a certain poetry about still having a McGarry on the team.**

Lou and Sam leave with their marching orders and I discuss some legislative stuff that we'll want to get into once things settle in.

Ronna interrupts and whisks away the President so he can get ready for the balls after a while. I have to backtrack as I go to exit through where I used to- then remembering now I have my own door. Leo's door. I take a few moments to take it in as I settle into my desk, whispering _thanks boss_ as I look at CJ's WWLD sticky note.

*technically in _Tomorrow_ Bram, Sam, and Josh are in this meeting but that doesn't seem right to me- Lou should be there instead so here ya go.

** if the various staffing stuff is too difficult to follow next chapter will be a guide as to who's who in what position which was my favorite part of writing this so if you're a nerd like me... stay tuned

reviews are always appreciated !


	3. Who's Who In The Santos Admin (a guide)

Position, Name , _Assistant_ (if applicable)

 **President,** Santos, _Ronna_

Chief of Staff, Josh, J _ack (OC) & Janice Trumbull (from season 4 Arctic Radar)_

Deputy Chief of Staff, Sam, _Cathy_

Director of Communications, Lou, _Ginger_

Press Secretary & Deputy Director of Communications, (tba in ch 4)

Deputy Press Secretary for Operations, Lester

Deputy Press Secretary for Media Affairs, Carol

Deputy Press Secretary for Internal Affairs, Nate Hawkins

Director of Public Liaison, Bram

Presidential Speechwriters, Otto & Elsie (Will Bailey's sister)

Director of Political Affairs, Edie

Director of Legislative Affairs,Amy

Congressional Aides, Ryan Pierce & Winifred Hooper (I am looking forward to this dynamic)

White House Counsel, Ainsley

 **First Lady,** Helen, _Nancy (from President Bartlet's exec office not Nancy McNally obviously)_

Chief of Staff to the First Lady, Donna

Director of Communications & Press Secretary for the First Lady, Annabeth

Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady, Margaret

Speechwriters for the First Lady, Cassie (intern S4) & Cindy

 **The Cabinet**

Vice President, Eric Baker

Secretary of State, Arnold Vinnick

Treasury Secretary -

Attorney General, Oliver Babish

Secretary of the Interior Karen Kroft

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Landis

Secretary of Commerce -

Secretary of Labor Tony Marino

Secretary of Defense Robert Swaine (R)

Secretary of Health & Human Services Olivia Buckland

HUD Secretary Jeff Breckenridge

Transportation Secretary -

Secretary of Energy -

Secretary of Education Josephine McGarry

Secretary of Veterans Affairs -

Homeland Security Advisor Kate Harper

 **Other**

UN Ambassador Nancy McNally

National Security Advisor Glen _ (as mentioned by Kate in S7 as he was chosen over her because of age) (for my story, his last name will be Larkin)

If you don't remember who these ppl are, I'd suggest given this page a scroll through! If you ya kno like that kind of thing wiki/List_of_The_West_Wing_politicians (CTRL/CMD F their names)


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